The Supremacy of the Cabinet

Abstract

The supremacy of the Cabinet in the constitution is now generally accepted. The theory of Parliamentary sovereignty might have been tenable at times in the nineteenth century, when it was possible for Bagehot to regard the Cabinet as merely a committee of Parliament, but it is not held to have much relevance to present-day conditions. In The British Constitution Sir Ivor Jennings writes ‘No change or development of policy of any importance would be carried out without Cabinet sanction’; and earlier in the same book he writes ‘The Cabinet can always have the last word’.¹ Other commentators have come to the same conclusion that it is the Cabinet, not Parliament, which is the driving force behind the machinery of government. That this should be so is one more example of the paradoxes of the British constitution, for the Cabinet, in spite of its importance, is scarcely mentioned at all in statutes. Yet the Cabinet does not possess unbridled power. L. S. Amery in Thoughts on the Constitution writes ‘In no other country is there such a concentration of power, and such a capacity for decisive action as that possessed by a British Cabinet’, but he goes on to say ‘provided always that it enjoys the support of a majority in the House of Commons.’

The dominant position of the Cabinet. The need for close scrutiny of the term ‘Cabinet’. Cabinet functions. Comparative stability of British Governments. Party discipline. Collective responsibility. Supremacy of Act of Parliament. Factors leading to greater centralisation. The degree of Cabinet freedom over policy-making. Public opinion. The Press. Back-benchers. Pressure-groups. The Opposition. The influence of conventional attitudes on political behaviour.

theme: Cabinet authority has been greatly extended. Formal limitations to its power are negligible, and, in practice, custom provides the best protection.